1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems for loading ammunition into automatic weapons systems and relates particularly to a portable handling and loading system for delivering large caliber ammunition to military aircraft and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been a great deal of recent effort directed to alleviating the problems encountered in replenishing ammunition used in rapid fire military aircraft weapons systems. In today's weapons system having firing rates which may approximate 4,200 rounds a minute, it is necessary that a substantial number of rounds be carried by the aircraft. In order to reduce the time required to load the armament systems on an aircraft, ammunition handling systems having been developed during the past few years which enable such armament systems to be loaded in rates in excess of 600 to 700 rounds a minute.
In applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,583 a trailer mounted ammunition supply system is disclosed which is capable of delivering 20 mm to 40 mm ammunition to an aircraft armament system at high rates of speed. The system of applicant's prior invention not only supplied ammunition to the armament system, but provided for the collection of the spent shell casings and misfired rounds being off loaded from the armament system. In the use of applicant's prior invention, a ground vehicle maneuvers the loader which weighs in excess of 11/2 tons to an area adjacent the aircraft being loaded. A first section of flexible chuting is extended between the ammunition supply container and the loader, and a second elongated flexible chuting is connected between the loader and the aircraft armament system. Due to the size of the loading system it is frequently necessary to use lengths of flexible chuting of 20' to 30' in order to connect the loader with the aircraft being serviced.
It has been determined that the current ammunition supply systems are not adequately suited for uses in all situations, as such systems not only are large and bulky in themselves, but that the amount of flexible chuting required to connect such systems to sources to ammunition supply and to the armament system being serviced, present additional handling problems. In addition to the foregoing, such loading systems can only be operated using power sources which are capable of driving relatively large feed drums to deliver rounds to, and to draw spent rounds from, the armament system.
In addition to applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,583, U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,821 to Clemens discloses another design for an automatic ammunition supply systems.